Numb3rs
by That Girl55
Summary: Bill smiled, "thirty gaelons she works in a bank someday!" "You're on," Harry snickered. TeddyXVictoire, oneshot


**Seven**

"Vic," He'd call her, his voice smooth as rain. even then it soothed her. "Come play with me!"

Nine year old Teddy pulled Victoire into the surf as their onlooking parents watched from the windows of shell cottage.

"One day, she'll be smarter than all of us, Potter. I assure you." Bill told his brother-in-law, Harry.

"I doubt that, Teddy's the farthest ahead in his studies right now-"

"That's only because of the age difference, Harry!" Fleur shot back in her thick french accent that Victoire was sure to inherit some of. "She's taken a liking to french already!"

"You've already started her on french?" Hermione choked at her water whilst shooting Ginny a warying glance.

"And she's amazing at numbers." Fred added in. "they're her favorite."

"Right, numbers." Bill smiled. "thirty gaelons she works in a bank."

"You're on," Harry snickered, girls working in a bank were practically unheard of, anyways.

**Nine**

"Mère pourquoi je ne peux pas aller avec Teddy?" Victoire asked her mother, in french, of course, as she was too ashamed to say it in front of Teddy, why she could not go along with him to Hogwarts.

"When you're older, darling." Fleur laughed it off, before Ginny grabbed her attention and Vic wandered over to Teddy.

"Must you go?" Victoire asked, thinking that she had heard it before, somewhere in one of her mother's daytime television shows or other.

"I'm sorry to leave you, Vic. But you'll have Dominique with you to entertain you." Teddy said. He was just eleven, and at the awkward age where girls have 'cooties,' but not Victoire. No, his best friend could never have something as gross as cooties! But still, he had to keep up appearences, especially when going to this new school, and even more when a Malfoy was watching, or so his father said.

So Teddy left Victoire when only that and a quick hug, when he was sure no Malfoys were looking.

Then Vic retreated to her mother, and sighed dramatically whilst Fleur questioned whether or not it was a good idea to let her daughter watch so many soap operas with her.

**Eleven**

Victoire held her breath as she was sorted. Teddy was a gryffindor, as was predicted by Harry and many generations before him.

Vic was begging to be a gryffindor too, for her whole family was and she was terrified she'd be disowned if she wasn't.

The hat was placed on her head.

_"Smart, very smart. I can tell you'll be a wonderful student. But all too much of a bright star to be a Ravenclaw. You've got the patience of your mother, however, so no hufflepuff for you. I could see you being a great gryffindor, but still, you're much too different from your family for that, dear. So slytherin it is!"_

Victoire huffed, and was ready to argue, but all too quickly she was led offstage as Teddy's face contorted into one of shock.

**Fifteen**

Victoire smiled as she doned the icey blue gown. It was a dark blue up top and then at the waist descending down into a lighter, crystalic shade with a "mermaid," or so it's called in muggle england, style fashion. fluer, in wanting to start her own tradition, had sewn microscopic crystals into the gown, and then charmed them to glimmer and shine the entire night.

Teddy thought Victoire looked wonderful in his arms.

It was his last year here, before he headed off to Auror training, and he truly was sorry to see her go.

The song ended, and Vic smiled, giving her lifelong friend a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back into the arms of some descendent of Viktor Crum.

They made a beautiful couple.

Teddy was disapointed that he hadn't gotten up the guts to ask her himself, and sat at a table the whole night, ignoring his date, with his eyes transfixed on Victoire.

**Seventeen**

Victoire, in seeing Teddy aproach, waved the bottle of her mother's wine in the air at him in a silent cheer.

"You aren't supposed to have that, you know." Teddy gave her a sideways glance.

"You are always such a rule follower, weren't you, Teddy. Why, I bet you never snuck out once in all of your time at Hogwarts!"

"I'm sure you did," Teddy plunkered down beside her, stealing the bottle and taking a swig of it for himself. "Little miss slytherin."

Vic gave him a small smile, before leaning against his side.

"Teddy," She sighed. "Hogwarts is over. We're graduated, you're off in college and I'm..." her voice trailed off.

The truth was, Victoire didn't know what to do. She wasn't brave enough to be an auror, nor did she have enough patience to be a professor.

"Do you know what you want to do yet, Victoire?" Teddy asked, wrapping his arm around her.

"No,"

"Well, that's alright. You can take a year off, I almost did it, you know. I heard-"

"But I know what I'm going to be, Teddy..." Her voice trailed off again, but this time was sadder than before. "A mother."

She set the bottle on the ground next to her.

"William Krum got me pregnant and I...I don't know what to do!"

**Twenty One**

Victoire liked four.

Four was a safe number.

Juliet was past the terrible twos, and odd numbers were bad luck anyways. Almost all the odd years in Vic's life didn't go well.

Juliet Lupin was the spitting image of, to everyone's suprise, Dominique.

She had long, curly jet black hair and eyes browner than chocolate. Her skin was from some unknown and likely dead family member of the Krum's, as it was as dark as a gypsy's.

Victoire took the name Lupin when she entered the muggle world, as Victoire Weasley was too detectable, and she still hated Krum for leaving her alone with Juliet all those years before, and then only returning to beat her bloody before announcing that he was gay and sleeping with James Potter the whole time.

Of course, that was before the Weasley-Potter family had discovered that she was pregnant, and William Krum was accepted into the family as James Potter's partner. When Victoire announced she was pregnant by him not even a month later, the only one who listened was Teddy.

So Teddy helped her escape when no one else would, lended her money when she needed and sometimes even when she didn't.

He took care of her, let her sleep in his apartment when he was away on 'official auror business' and gave her his last name.

They were married as soon as she turned eighteen, that way juliet wasn't a bastard and William Krum and his vicious ways couldn't hunt them down as easily.

Still, they hadn't consumated the marriage.

Both were in no rush to, however. Vic had a baby to take care of, and Teddy nearly worked himself to death every day, and neither were exactly sure of their feelings towards the other, to be exact.

So their words remained unsaid, and the nights remained empty.

**Twenty Seven**

Nine.

Nine was a very unlucky number.

The eighth year of her marriage with Teddy was, by far, the worst, as he had developed a bit of a drinking problem that Victoire, strong, pigheaded Victoire, had no idea how to address. So instead, she let him drink himself into unconciousness and turned her mind entirely to her nine-year-old daughter.

But, in following the tradition of her life, the anniversary of their ninth year of marriage went like this:

Juliet was put to bed on time, eight o'clock on the dot, and Vic, desperate to start out the year right, dressed in a silky teddy and panties, and waited for Teddy to arrive home, and praying that he hadn't passed out somewhere along the streets of London.

Finally, Teddy Lupin strode inside the house, entirely sober.

Vic's eyes gleamed with joy, until she saw who was on his arm.

"Dom?" The name sounded strange and unfamiliar in her mouth, and it definitly didn't seem like the name of the sister she had left behind ten years ago.

Dominique would have been just twenty (I don't think it's quite in line with the books, but I couldn't find their actual ages and birthdays), and looked more beautiful than ever.

Juliet most definitly favored her, she had her hair and her eyes, but still Dominique was as pale as the moon at midnight.

Teddy Lupin's sobriety was obviously all an act, and Dominique was clearly wasted, as they leaned in to kiss each other passionately, oblivious to Victoire.

She felt invisible, and she made a vow never to feel that way again as she ran upstairs and collected her daughter and their savings, before heading out into the london night.

**Thirty One**

Victoire, no matter how hard she tried, didn't feel pretty anymore.

Of course, that's not what the young interns at her accounting office said, or what the wolf-whistles she got when she walked down the street meant, but after Teddy Lupin and William Krum had used her like that, well she didn't feel like she was ever going to be enough.

So she did something she hadn't done since her fourth year, when William Krum asked her out to the Yule Ball, and she hadn't felt pretty enough then either, she made herself sick.

She stuck a toothbrush down her throat and emptied her stomach into the toilet bowl.

Then she thought of Juliet, her daughter. What would she think if she saw her mother like this?

Victoire never did it again.

**Thirty-Seven**

Juliet had just stopped by to announce that she was engaged to some wonderful man, Alexander Grey, who was a muggle.

Juliet was spending the day with Alexander somewhere, and Victoire had nothing to do.

Looking at the calender, she realized it was the anniversary of the end of the wizarding world, and that her birthday was today.

Thirty Seven seemed such an old and lonely age.

She also realized she hadn't seen her family in twenty years, and hadn't heard from Teddy in ten.

Quickly, she flooed home for a visit, assuming her whole family would be at the burrow to celebrate.

* * *

All eyes turned to her when she arrived, and she was thankful that the ten years spent alone had allowed her to get her great figure back, and that the stress of having Juliet hadn't given her any permanate wrinkles.

Her mother ran to her, wrapping her in an embrace, all unhappy memories of the past forgotten as she hugged each member of her family tightly, until she got to Dom.

"Do you remember that night?" Victoire asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Dominique blushed, and nodded softly.

"Do you know what you did?" Dominique nodded again. "Were you aware you were doing it with my husband?"

Tears began to sting at Dom's eyes, and Victoire, a kind soul at heart, let it go, figure time had already weathered her hard enough.

Even though she was only thirty, there were already long strands of gray in Dominique's hair, her smile and frown lines already beginning to show, and she definitly wasn't as thin as she used to be.

Victoire glanced at Teddy standing next to her.

His job as an auror had kept him in good shape, and his hair, despite being a metamorphagis, remained the same color as Juliet's once was, until she started dying it blonde back in college.

Ginny was the first one to say anything.

"Your daughter, Vic, how is she?"

"Her name's Juliet, Juliet Lupin, and she got engaged today. I figured I should have came home and told you all." Vic shrugged, making herself at home on the sofa as she would have done twenty years ago now.

"Does she know-"

"She knows all about you all. Actually, she attended Hogwarts, I'm suprised you all didn't know about her, with Louis teaching there and all." Vic shrugged it off casually.

The people gradually dispersed, their questions too personal to be asked, probably.

But Bill came over, giving his eldest daughter a hug and a kiss on the cheek before whispering, "I missed you," into her ear.

"So Vic," Bill asked her, loudly and smiling broadly. "What are you doing nowadays?"

"I'm an accountant, actually." Vic laughed, winking at her dad as he whooped and hollared.

"She's an accountant, Potter, you owe me money!"

Bill ran off into the kitchen in search of his brother in law.

"Five gaelons he forgot how much he bet." Ginny whispered to hermione.

"You're on," Mione whispered back.

Victoire smiled, giving a slight giggle.

It was like she'd never left.

And for Teddy, it's like she'd never came back.

Only the smell of her strawberry perfume and whisps of white-blonde hair would even remind him that they were, at some point, under the same roof.

Victoire was always the dreamer, but Teddy was the one with his head constantly in the clouds.


End file.
